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Audition Anxiety
'' Audition Anxiety ''is the sixteenth book in the Middle School Experience series. It chronicles all the drama surrounding the auditions for the spring musical, where both Chloe and Popular Sensation Lindsay Shapiro want the lead part. Meanwhile, Daphne is afraid that she won't be able to try out for the play because of her poor grades. When auditions for the spring musical, Beauty and the Beast, are announced, members of the drama club jump for the lead roles. Chloe dreams of starring in her first lead role as Belle, but her dreams are shattered when Lindsay, a Popular Sensation, tries out for the lead role, too. Meanwhile, Daphne doesn't think she will be able to audition at all when her parents pressure her to focus on her poor math grades. Will Chloe and Daphne be able to overcome their audition anxieties? Summary Chloe is sitting in her homeroom class and watching the morning announcements when they announce that the musical for the spring semester will be ''Beauty and the Beast. ''Chloe is ecstatic for the musical, and so are many of her classmates. After homeroom and before first period, Chloe spots Maryann at her locker, and they gush over the musical. Both the girls want to play Belle, and Chloe believes that this semester is her first semester to finally get a lead role in a school musical at Lakewood. Popular Sensations Lindsay and Mary-Kate approach them and announce that they are auditioning for the musical, much to Chloe's dismay. However, Chloe doesn't believe that Lindsay is talented and brushes her off. She decides to focus on herself and her goals. Daphne is in a bad mood, which is only temporarily interrupted when she talks to Maryann about the musical, because she has to go to math class in third period. Her mood doesn't improve when Mr. Barton has the students grade each other's homework assignments and Daphne ends up failing hers. Mr. Barton begins teaching a geometry lesson, but Daphne becomes bored in class and begins daydreaming about the musical. However, Mr. Barton calls her to answer a question and berates her in front of the class when he realizes that she isn't paying attention. Mr. Barton ends class by mentioning that there is a quiz on Wednesday before calling Daphne to stay behind to talk about her poor grades. Mr. Barton advises Daphne to consider going to morning or afternoon tutoring in the school library, but Daphne doesn't want to. When Daphne goes to lunch, she runs into some of her math classmates, who taunt her for being bad at math. She realizes that she really needs to improve her grades so she can focus on her audition for the musical. The following afternoon, Chloe, Maryann, and Daphne attend an audition informational meeting held by Ms. Thomas and two other teachers for the students interested in trying out for the spring musical. The girls see several of their peers, including Ryder, Chloe's crush, and Lindsay and Mary-Kate. Daphne warns Chloe that Lindsay is actually talented, but Chloe brushes her off. Halfway through the meeting, the teachers hand out excerpts of the script for ''Beauty and the Beast ''and give the students time to begin reading it so they can find a monologue to recite during the line read at the auditions. Chloe and her friends go to the drama room to get some quiet space to read the lines. As they begin practicing, Lindsay and Mary-Kate walk into the room to practice. The girls realize that Mary-Kate is very untalented, but to their surprise, Lindsay is actually talented--and it seems like she wants to try out for the role of Belle. This causes Chloe to begin panicking and losing confidence in her dreams. Because the audition meeting ran late, Daphne forgets to study for her math quiz, and ends up struggling to complete it. When lunch begins, she is put into a very bad mood as she vents to her friends about it. Chloe is also in a bad mood during lunch as she vents about her dilemma, believing that she doesn't stand a chance against Lindsay for the role of Belle. Most of the girls try to convince Chloe that she should continue trying for the role and that she is more talented that Lindsay, but Chloe is still unsure. Chloe asks Maryann and Daphne if they want to start coming over to her house every day so they can practice their auditions, but Daphne declines and explains that she needs to focus on improving her math grades. Chloe is not happy with Daphne's answer and tries to convince her that she can work on her homework at her house, but Daphne continues to decline. Chloe makes some insensitive comments about Daphne not focusing in class enough, which annoys and upsets her. Daphne is upset with Chloe's comments but feels even worse when she realizes that she's right. She agrees to meet up with Chloe and Maryann to practice for the auditions on the weekends, but for the rest of the week, she decides to focus on improving her math grades. A week goes by, and Chloe, Maryann, and Daphne are diligently practicing their auditions. However, because of their disagreement about Daphne's math grades, there is a rift between Chloe and Daphne. One day, when lunch begins, Chloe suggests that her friends spend lunch in the auditorium to practice, but Maryann and Daphne are reluctant to, and they tell her that she needs to relax. Chloe decides to take their advice. In the cafeteria, she runs into Ryder. Ryder talks to the girls about the musical and reveals that he is auditioning for the Beast. Ryder also tells Chloe that she would make an excellent Belle, which boosts her confidence, until Lindsay walks up to her and taunts her. Lindsay reveals that she is going to practice her audition in the auditorium, which causes Chloe to panic and insist to her friends that they need to practice during lunch, much to their dismay. Daphne is trying to balance her audition practice with improving her math grades, but by the end of January, her math grades do not improve. On a Friday evening, Daphne eats dinner with her family, who talk about their grades so far during the semester. Daphne's parents express concern about her math grades, while her brother Brennon taunts her. Daphne's parents tell her that drama club is a distraction, which makes her upset, and she decides to excuse herself from dinner. When she is in her room, she gets a message from the GroupMe chat for her math class, where one of her classmates asks the rest of the class if they started on a geometry project that Mr. Barton had recently assigned. After some of the class complains that the project is hard, Nick reveals that he found a copy of the project online and he intends to buy it. Some of his classmates want the answers, but Nick tells them that they have to pay him before he gives it to them. Daphne, believing that using this document will help improve her grade, offers to pay Nick. She receives a private text message from Maryann, telling her that cheating is wrong, but Daphne reassures her that she isn't going to get caught. After Daphne realizes that some of her classmates cheat to get ahead in class, she begins using the internet to find her homework assignments online so she can copy down and get good grades; this boosts her grade. However, even though she had paid Nick for the document, he has never sent it to her, and she begins to believe that she had gotten scammed. Maryann tells her that she is going to meet up with Regina to work on the project and invites Daphne to come with them. Daphne decides to work with her friends on the project and is happy with the results. When she gets home, she sees that Nick had finally sent her the document, but she deletes his email. She turns in the project and receives an A on it, but on Wednesday, two days before the auditions, Mr. Barton calls Daphne, Nick, and several other students to stay behind during class. He informs them that one of their classmates had told him that they had cheated on the geometry project and had sent evidence to back up their claims. Daphne tells Mr. Barton that she didn't cheat, but he brings up that she had paid seven dollars to get the document. He gives a lecture on academic dishonesty before giving the students a punishment, which includes a week-long after school detention. Daphne panics when she realizes that her detention sentence falls on the same day as the auditions for the musical. She walks up to Mr. Barton's desk to try to explain this to him, but he is insensitive about it. She begs him not to tell her parents before running out of the room. When Maryann catches up with her, Daphne has a mental breakdown as she explains the incident. Chloe walks up to the girls and tells them that she wants to practice her audition during lunch, and Daphne and Maryann calls her out for being self-centered. Daphne tells Chloe that Lindsay deserves the role before storming away. Chloe is hurt by Daphne's words until Maryann explains the cheating scandal to her; Chloe then begins to feel horrible for her insensitive attitude. During lunch, she realizes that she had been overbearing when it came to the auditions. After school, instead of practicing her audition, she asks Eliza to take her to Michael's so she can make a gift for Daphne to cheer her up. She plans on giving it to Daphne the next day, but for most of the day, Daphne avoids her. At the end of the school day, Chloe is able to catch up with Daphne. Daphne isn't happy to see her and explains that she was very hurt by Chloe's insensitivity when it came to her struggles with math, and Chloe apologizes for her behavior. Chloe suddenly gets an idea and convinces Daphne to audition for Ms. Thomas in the morning since she can't make it to the auditions in the afternoon. Daphne is at first reluctant to go along with the plan, but she becomes more confident about it when Chloe and Maryann agree to support her. Daphne is walking to detention when she realizes that she has to ask Mr. Barton an important question. She walks to his classroom to ask him if he had emailed her parents about the cheating scandal. To her surprise, Mr. Barton tells her that he isn't going to email her parents after he saw that she truly felt sorry about getting caught up with cheating. Mr. Barton reveals that he had created the geometry project, and he was very hurt and disappointed when he learned that some of his students had cheated on it. He later shares a story that relates to Daphne's struggles in math, which he solved by attending tutoring. Daphne realizes that she should give after-school tutoring a chance. Mr. Barton decides to replace Daphne's detention sentence with a week's worth of mandatory after school tutoring, which Daphne accepts. To her surprise, she ends up enjoying the tutoring sessions and considers going there more often. On Friday morning, Chloe, Ellie, and Maryann support Daphne for her morning audition for Ms. Thomas, and after school, Arabella and Leah accompany Maryann and Chloe to the auditions in the auditorium. Ryder tells the girls to break a leg. Lindsay and Mary-Kate show up to the auditions dressed like the characters, which throws Chloe off a little, but her friends reassure her not to panic. Soon, the auditions begin. Mary-Kate proves that she is untalented, but Maryann, Ryder, and many of Chloe's friends from the drama club prove they are very talented. Lindsay's audition is good, but she acts egotistical, which annoys Ms. Thomas and the other teachers overseeing the audition process. Chloe's audition is equally as good, although she is nervous at first, and she receives a standing ovation. By the end of the auditions, Chloe is proud of herself and hopes that she receives the part. On Monday morning, Chloe and her friends go to the front office so they can see the results of the auditions that are posted on the bulletin board outside the office. Ryder gets the part of the Beast, Daphne gets the role of one of the Silly Girls, and Maryann gets the part of Mrs. Potts. To Chloe's surprise, she receives the role of Belle, which makes her emotional but happy. When Lindsay finds out that she got the role of a townsperson, she becomes angry and decides to quit the play. The girls celebrate their triumphs with the rest of their friends, and Chloe is happy that everything worked out for her and Daphne. Characters (in order of appearance) * Chloe Winters * Maryann Chang * Lindsay Shapiro * Mary-Kate Lucas * Daphne Carson * Alonzo Barton * Angela Thomas * Eddie Olson * Trinity Bryant * Nathan Luna * Zoe Tucker * Leah Harrison * Gail Edwards * Arabella Wilson * Alex Sanders * Ryder Hensley * Brennon Carson * Barbara Carson * Hector Carson * Regina Daniels * Ellie Jackson * Eliza Cantrell * Jessie Sanchez Trivia *This story was rewritten four times. First edition, 2008. Fourth edition, August 2018. *This is the first story involving the Popular Sensations that mainly focuses on Lindsay and Mary-Kate, rather than Clarissa, Marylin, and Gabby. *Daphne's storyline with her math class was originally in a story called "Daphne's Math Challenge", but it was a flimsy story on its own, so the author decided to combine it with "Audition Anxiety" (which was originally called "The Play" at first). Daphne's storyline replaces her previous storyline in "AA", which was about a rift in her and Ellie's friendship. Category:Stories